US Orders Blockade, Cries 'Authoritarianism' at Venezuela
Donald Trump has ordered a "total and complete" blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers, with the Guardian echoing the administration's line about ramping up pressure on "authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro." This isn't just about Maduro; it's a chapter in a century-long playbook. Remember when the CIA backed a coup in Guatemala in 1954 to protect United Fruit Company interests, calling elected leader
Jacobo Árbenz 'communist'? Or the 1973 overthrow of Chile's democratically elected Salvador Allende over concerns about 'socialist' reforms? The US consistently justifies its economic blockades and military interventions by labeling targeted leaders as 'authoritarian' regardless of how they came to power, conveniently ignoring the humanitarian cost of crippling sanctions. Weapons sales to Saudi
Arabia, led by the objectively more authoritarian Prince Mohammed bin Salman, face far less scrutiny, especially from media outlets that happily run op-eds from think tanks funded by defense contractors. It seems 'authoritarianism' is only a problem when it impacts US corporate interests or defies Washington's geopolitical objectives. How many Venezuelan civilians need to suffer before we question
the moral consistency of these 'freedom-loving' blockades? (Spoiler alert: a lot.)